USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Albany bi-centennial. Historical memoirs > Part 6
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We certainly have magnified a deal Since here the Mohawks eat their Indian meal. And spite of all the sneers that make us slow, The fact of utterance does not make it so. In countless traits, we justly dare to stand The peer of any city in the land ! In one thing we are like the old Dutch people Before the days of banking-house and steeple ; For, through the forest of our streets and houses, A cunning, savage foe, at times arouses The thoughtless settlers, with the knives and axes We moderns learn to know as jobs and taxes. But with a leader, brave, resolved and true, Who knows his duty and who dares to do. Like him, who fills with grace our civic chair, And writes his title, JOHN BOVD THACHER, Mayor - Let the wild Indians come, with whoop and rattle, If pluck and bravery count, he'll win the battle !
Now take our city all in all, her claim Is large and just for past and present fame. With radiant power, the glory of the past Lights up the present ; present days will cast New radiance on the future; and when time Shall tell in careful prose, or careless rhyme, The record of what makes our claim to glory ; One splendid feature in the pleasant story, Securing praise, inspiring new ambition, Will be the fact of this grand EXHIBITION ; This noble work, inspired by cultured thought, And, fair hands helping, to perfection brought. High honor to the ladies and the men ! To HOWARD KING-our KING-yet citizen ; Our STILLMAN, MATHER, GARDNER, BOSS, TEN EYCK, And all the earnest throng whose aim alike Has been to honor in yon spacious hall Our fine old city's birthday festival.
Mr. Leonard Kip was then introduced and de- livered
THE ORATION.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN -It has been our custom hitherto to improve our national anniversary with no stinted commendation of our origin, progress and resources. We have satisfactorily reviewed our foreign wars, and have learned to believe that every battle was for us a victory, and every leader upon our side a master of military strategy. We have told ourselves that all our soldiers were heroes in- spired with patriotic fire, and that all against whom we have ever fought were minions of brutal tyrants. We have
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looked into our congressional halls, and recognized in our representatives, marvels of unequaled ability and learning ; and we have noted, in their settlement of foreign difficulties, the exhibition of wonderful skill and acumen, ever, as through some kindly fate, working for our sole glory and advancement. And this has come about-we somewhat modestly admit-not from having educated in ourselves such unsurpassable qualities, but simply from the tendency of our free and independent institutions to create in us a nation of gifted citizens, adorned with attributes of valor and states- manship which, in the nature of things, could not be expected to grace the down-trodden subjects of selfish and effete monarchies. Such has always been our pleasant programme upon this day ; and perhaps its exaggerations need not too severely be scrutinized, since they may not unlikely tend to evoke a patriotic sentiment, firm in the idea that certainly no sacrifices of life or fortune could be too great if made in defense of such incomparable results of political freedom.
Now, for a while, we change our method, letting the great interests of the nation at large go on without our patronage, and bringing our observation down to the more limited area of our city, which, with good reason, has chosen this day to celebrate a striking event in its own history. It happens that, two hundred years ago, the settlement of Albany gained a charter and became invested with civic dignities. To us, at first sight, this scarcely seems to be a matter worthy of great attention. A city charter is merely a change of government in what has previously existed safely under the shield and protection of a larger organization ; and hence it gives simply the power to conduct municipal operations under a different and generally more complicated system. But in the olden days a city charter was a sacred thing, to be long and earnestly striven for, and, as sometimes happened, to be attained only through war or insurrection. Towns grew into importance and shrank back again into obscurity without having been deemed worthy of the honor ; other and perhaps smaller towns secured it only by valor in some espe- cial cause, or as a reward for distinguished political services. The giving of a charter was as the sword of knighthood laid upon the civic shoulder-the patent of its nobility-the partial release from feudal tenures. It placed the city more closely beneath the protection of its sovereign; it gave it what did not then always exist, the right to protect itself.
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Its streets might run red with blood in contest with some rival city ; but it would be in maintenance of its vested privileges, and this consciousness alone would be sufficient to give vigor to the defense. It could organize civic insti- tutions, with fair expectation that, under the protecting ægis of the charter, they would become permanent ; and it could emblazon its arms upon its flag.
Naturally, therefore, it could not fail to happen, that almost from the very foundation of Albany-or at least from the earliest time when it began to be apparent that it had a fair promise of a successful future-ideas of civic indepen- dence should accompany its growth and color its aspirations. Its original settlers, upon leaving Europe, had by no means cast aside their traditions or affiliations; why should not Albany some day attain the dignity of older cities ? And why, in fact, should it not, in this broad land where every- thing was of such rapid growth, reach its due measure of importance with yet greater celerity ; so that, instead of toiling for centuries through abject vassalage, it could advance with speedy pace, and even in a single generation attain some measure of dignity and self-government? In the beginning a mere trading post upon the border of a manorial estate, it had been held in something like feudal dependence, under a crude system of law, tempered only by the shadow of colonial authority, which, centered at a dis- tance, could not always successfully maintain its influence or afford protection. Then, set apart by itself and a semblance of freedom given it, it was still somewhat overborne by the authority of its powerful neighbor, as well as bound by olden tendencies toward consent and agreement, if not entire obe- dience. And when at last the charter was bestowed, and Albany became a free and independent city, it must have been with much self-satisfaction and complacency. Those ancestors of ours were not, by nature, unduly given to open demonstration of their feelings, and did not,-as far as we now can tell-hail their charter with fireworks, processions and pageantry. But all the same, it was a boon for which in their quiet manner they greatly rejoiced, knowing that now they could stand before the world, as did their ancestral cities abroad, free, under certain necessary restrictions, to make their own laws and endow their schools, churches and seats of learning, and in many ways look forward to assured prosperity as well as to possible commercial importance.
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And now, in pleasant memory of that time, we open our celebration of Albany's Bi-centenary. We will speak about our natural resources ; our commerce and manufactures ; our railroad and water connections; and we will give out our invitations to all the world to come and establish frater- nal trade with us. We will look with satisfaction upon being one of the oldest living cities of the thirteen colonies. We will review our history, and point with pride to the fact that in the Revolution, Albany was so long the keystone of the contest, the critical position which, if once lost, would result in all being lost, the objective point for the possession of which two armies fought. And in addition, as flowers to a feast, we have here collected into one pleasing museum the treasures of our homes, to exemplify our perception of taste, our artistic culture and our veneration for the past. Some of this gathered wealth speaks only of the present, and claims no other recognition than for its beauty and costliness. As such it is welcome, and cannot fail, when rightly considered, to prove an incentive to future art. And there is much that comes to us redolent with sweet sugges- tions of the past; with richness of design or material more or less perhaps, or possibly with no especial artistic beauty at all, except the quaintness which, in such matters, is often beauty's handmaid, yet none the less of priceless value to us, since each piece whispers some story of the past. That tarnished lace-in its freshness it must once have decked some form of grace at the Court of William the Silent. That rusted sword-it must have been drawn for the faith in the army of Prince Maurice. That old stained and worm-eaten Bible-some pale brow and trembling lips may have bent over it for the last time, while the inquisitors of Philip stood knocking at the door below. That capacious bowl-it may have had festive groups of generals and councilors of State gathered about it, as they drank in rejoicing for some victory over the Spanish army. Is it not right that we should hold these relics in veneration ? They not only speak to us about the past, but they tell us that Albany has an ancestry in art. They prove to us that those who earliest came among us did not, in canting spirit, attempt to cast away all beauty from their lives, but that it was a part of their earnest care to surround themselves, in their new relations, with pleasant memories of the days gone by ; to the intent, perhaps, that when their shattered for-
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tunes were repaired, the whole sweet past might be restored in all its power, and their homes again bloom with the ac- customed loveliness and refinement.
But when the heir, who at his majority has come to his estate with great rejoicing, would wish at some future period to celebrate a particular epoch in his life, we are apt to ask what should be the incentive to the new festivities, and how far they may be justified by what has past ? What has been the life that now is to be signalized with loud acclaim, what the performance of its early promise, and what its influence upon its period and surroundings ? If it has been a barren, profitless life, remarkable only for its duration, wherein should it be made an occasion for joyful gathering ? The beggar at the gate, with his still more extended span of years, might therein show a better claim for consideration. In the review of any life there must be cause for sadness as well as for joy ; and it is a foolish heart that can give vent to exultation only, and feel no self-reproach for neglected opportunity. And so in Albany, when we would boast our age and his- tory, we should at least consider whether as a city we have, in all respects, been true to our early promise and advan- tages. In matters of trade and enterprise we may have done passingly well, and even in surrounding ourselves with all material comforts. But what about the influence which we should have allowed our artistic associations to exert upon us in fostering enduring and wide extended tastes ? In what respect, while more and more richly embellishing our lives, have we reminded ourselves that, while our homes are to be made beautiful, their surroundings should not be neglected ? And in this connection how far have we im- pressed it upon our consciousness that we should strive to give our city, which in one sense is our larger home, a por- tion of our taste and culture, so that for this as well as for commercial enterprise it may have some claim upon the world's admiration and regard ?
What example, in this direction, do we find in the cities from which, in part, our own city traces its lineage, and which we so complacently believe we are outstripping in every essential attribute ? For centuries, indeed, they seemed to be dormant; it was no time to become inspired with ideas of progress, when siege and battle and rapine were almost the habit of the day. It may well be understood that then, not only could no scheme for civic improvement be
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organized, but that even their household treasures must often need careful concealment. But within a generation there has been to many of those cities, an awakening. The superfluity of their riches has been gathered into galleries, to which all the world has been invited for study. The love of art-culture has extended; and they have asked themselves why, with beauty in their homes, everything around them should not be made to correspond ? They have re-embel- lished their churches and erected new civic buildings. They have not, in any rash spirit of modernizing, widened their narrow streets. This, if it could be done at all, would almost be profanation, since inuch history has there been made and centered. But in the outskirts they have opened newer and broarder avenues ; and little wooded parks have taken the place of antiquated fortifications now swept away ; and arched collonades have been extended as an artistic framework along the boarders of noted places; and foun- tains have been set to gush at the corners of the streets or in open courts. Much of this has been done, too, not as we make improvement, through individual impulse grafting separate and incongruous ideas upon our streets, but rather through common assent giving the adornment of the city into the custody of thoughtful minds, whereby well-conceived designs fitly carried out may gradually grow into a harmoni- ous whole. And with all this, their great historic names and their benefactors have not been forgotten. In the galleries we see their sombre portraits in ruffs or slashed doublets, or chain armor, or official robes, an imposing line extending far back into the middle ages; in the niches outside the public buildings are their stone busts ; in the public parks bronze or marble statues more largely attest the gratitude of the people and keep alive those sacred memories.
How far, with all our boasted enterprise and progress, have we advanced into a realization that the material require- ments of health, protection and convenient commercial facilities are not the only things our city need regard ; but that the truest economy is that which, within certain bounds, would lavish our resources upon it, and by one systematic effort clothe it with beauy, and make it not only a satisfac- tion to ourselves, but an attraction to others ? And in doing so, how far have we become ready to give grateful express- ion to the memory of our great men and benefactors ? Their line does not reach back for many centuries, and yet
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they are not few in number. Almost at a thought we can recall many who long before this should have had a better recognition of their value to us. There is Petrus Stuyves- ant, the last of our Dutch Governors, a man who, in his time, was not greatly loved in Beverwyck, and in resentment of his fancied encroachments was somewhat disrespectfully treated by it; but whose reputation has grown bright as a ruler of much administrative ability, and who, if he had not been deposed by a stronger power, would have deserved well of the whole colony, and now certainly seems to demand some notice in the city which has become its capital. There is De Witt Clinton, the promoter of the Erie canal, who thereby helped make Albany what it is, instead of re- maining, as might have happened, little more than an inland village. There is Robert Fulton who, with his mechanical genius, fitly supplemented the work of Clinton, and gave to the canal the power more efficiently to let its cargoes float down to the ocean. There is Philip Schuyler, for a period the commander of the northern patriot army, and for many months the defender of our outposts; and who, if due jus- tice had been meted out to him, might himself have had the good fortune to fight the battles of Stillwater and Sara- toga, and take prisoner the royalist leader whom he was merely left to entertain. There is Washington Irving, most genial of New York writers, whose pleasantry about the cus- toms of our ancestors has been long forgiven, as we have learned to read between the lines, and appreciate aright his tenderly drawn picturing of our colonial homes-as accu- rate and sympathetic in description as anything that Scott has ever written about the lowland life of his native land. And there is Fenimore Cooper, still ranking as the greatest of American novelists, whose pen has made classic the woods and waters of our northern border, and who, in two novels of his later years, has illustrated old-time life upon the Hud- son river, and the colonial society of Albany itself, with a fidelity and accuracy of detail that can never be excelled by any other pen, even though equal genius might be found to wield it. What has so far been done among us to give per- manent expression of our gratitude to these and others who in this connection might be mentioned ? Where is now even our single monument to the soldiers who, within our memory, went from among us to the battle field, never to return ?
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So far there may have been some excuse for a portion of our remissness. During the generation now passing we have been occupied with more serious matters than tasteful decoration of our streets, or public acknowledgment of our benefactors. For a while we were fighting for our homes, and there were times when we did not feel certain in what condition the fortune of war might leave them to us. And after that, came days of trouble and despondency, in which all seemed dark in our credit and resources, and we knew not whether we should ever fully recover from the shock of arms and settle down once more to the pleasant ways of peace. But even within the present year the clouds of un- certainty have rolled apart, and we have become able to see prosperous paths stretching out before us. Three of our greatest generals have passed away, and we have met no in- dication of offense or detraction from those who once called themselves their enemies ; nothing but the chivalrous respect with which brave men will ever regard other brave men who have fought with them upon principal and in honor. From his retirement the leader of the lost cause has come and again uttered those olden sophistries which once stirred half a continent to warfare. For a time there were some among us who stood uncertain about what might happen: Was this the glimmering of a torch which again would light us up with conflagration ? But as we listened, we heard little to dismay us. Even the few words of sympathy with the utter- ances of the fallen chieftain had no fervor in them; and, rightly understood, seem nothing else than the desire to soften, for a short period, the disappointments of a broken down, embittered old man. The danger of disunion for any cause that we have yet known has forever passed away. Each footfall in the funeral march with which we have borne our heroes to their graves has found a throb of answering sympathy in some southern soldier's heart ; and the hands that lightly met at Appomattox, have now been clasped with warm and fervent pressure across the tomb at Riverside. The aspiration of the great soldier has become fulfilled, and at last we have peace.
And now, with that peace has came our opportunity. How will we improve our coming years ? Some day there will be other celebrations of this kind in Albany. I do not speak of another anniversary of our charter, a century hence. None who are now here would live to see it ; nor, amid the
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many changes of social and civic life, could we be sure that it would ever have a place. But within the present genera- tion will come the tri-centenary of Albany's first settlement ; and it may be looked upon as certain that the occasion will not remain unimproved. There may be attractions attend- ing it, like the present ; once more in this very place, per- haps, and even with some of these same art and household treasures taking their mute part in it. And it is almost cer- tain also, that there are many persons now here who will then be here again. With what spirit and under what cir- cumstances will they come ? Will they draw near through broken and market crowded streets, -past antiquities, un- noticed and uncared for, -along lines of architectural incongruities, our great buildings unfinished, and becoming a world-wide reproach, because no public spirit has been aroused with sufficient force to free them from political inca- pacity ; and entering here, look upon the collection of that day as something to be considered with a careless and in- different eye, and worthy only to afford an hour's amusement, before being remanded to its former comparative obscurity ? Or, under happier auspices, will they come through pleasant and shaded ways, adorned with tasteful and harmonious architecture,-past our public buildings all completed and crowned with the approbation of the world for their beauty and richness,-across bright open spaces where fountains sparkle in the sun, and through parks where our great men, in enduring bronze and marble, look down froin their sculp- tured pedestals and mutely attest our grateful memory for them ; and with such associations cheered, here gaze upon our relics, not merely as precious heirlooms that can tell en- tertaining stories of the past, but as treasures that have already taught a lesson, in adding inspiration toward an ever-brightening future of art and culture ?
THE MANAGERS OF THE EXHIBITION.
The successful inauguration of this exhibition was due to the exertions of the following officers and committees :
President, J. Howard King; Vice-President, James T. Gardiner; Secretary, Henry James Ten Eyck; Treasurer, Ledyard Cogswell.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE- James T. Gardiner, Chairman ;
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Mrs. John Boyd Thacher, Mrs. Erastus Corning, Jr., Mrs. Robert Shaw Oliver, Mrs. Clarence Rathbone, Miss Frances C. Nott, Charles Tracey, W. O. Stillman, Henry James Ten Eyck, George Douglas Miller, Charles Visscher Winne.
BI-CENTENNIAL LOAN COMMISSION - J. Howard King, President ; Robert C. Pruyn, John Boyd Thacher, Selden E. Marvin, J. Townsend Lansing, John L. Van Valken- burgh, John C. Nott, Robert Shaw Oliver, Douw H. Fonda, Lewis Boss, Charles Tracey, Samuel B. Towner, Henry James Ten Eyck, John Zimmerman, Robert D. Williams, W. O. Stillman, James T. Gardiner, George Douglass Mil- ler, William Bayard Van Rensselaer, Charles Visscher Winne.
LADIES' AUXILIARY COMMITTEE- Mrs. John Boyd Thacher, Mrs. Erastus Corning, Jr., Mrs. Robert Shaw Oliver, Mrs. Clarence Rathbone, Miss Frances C. Nott, Mrs. Philip Ten Eyck, Mrs. Samuel Hand, Mrs. William Cassidy, Mrs. Hamilton Harris, Mrs. John De Witt Peltz, Mrs. J. G. Farnsworth, Mrs. Ledyard Cogswell, Mrs. Jacob H. Ten Eyck, Mrs. Volkert P. Douw, Mrs. James P. Boyd, Mrs. E. B. Ten Broeck, Mrs. John H. Reynolds, Jr., Miss Annie V. R. Russell, Mrs. Rufus W. Peckham, Mrs. Mar- cus T. Hun.
PICTURES, PRINTS AND STATUARY- Mrs. John Boyd Thacher, Chairman; Mrs. William Cassidy, Lewis Balch, Mrs. Walter D. Nicholas, John Battersby, Charles G. Saxe, Irving Browne, Thomas Buckley, Miss Harriet I. Barnes, William Bruce, Edward R. Cassidy.
OLD FURNITURE, ANCIENT DRESS AND GENERAL RELICS - Miss Frances C. Nott, Chairman; Mrs. A. Bleecker Banks, Mrs. J. Townsend Lansing, Mrs. J. H. Ten Eyck, Mrs. James P. Boyd, Mrs. F. S. Pruyn, Mrs. R. D. Williams, Mrs. Volkert P. Douw, Miss Gertrude Ten Eyck, Thomas Buckley, Thurlow Weed Barnes.
CERAMICS, GLASS AND IVORIES- Mrs. Robert Shaw Oliver, Chairman; E. D. Palmer, Rev. Wesley R. Davis, Mrs. Samuel Hand, Miss Anne V. R. Russell, Miss Rath- bone, Mrs. Ledyard Cogswell, Charles L. Pruyn, George D. Fearey, R. W. Gibson, Harry C. Cushman.
BRIC-A-BRAC, OLD SILVER AND PERSONAL ORNAMENTS - Mrs. Erastus Corning, Jr., Chairman ; Mrs. John De Witt Peltz, Mrs. Marcus T. Hun, Mrs. Bayard U. Livingstone, Richard L. Annesley, Mrs. E. B. Ten Broeck, Mrs. John
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H. Reynolds, Jr., Miss Vanderpoel, James H. Leake, W. W. Byington.
BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS- Geo. Douglas Miller, Chairman; the Rev. W. W. Battershall, Leonard Kip, the Rev. Edward A. Terry, Mrs. Hamilton Harris, Mrs. Marcus T. Hun, B. Irving Stanton, N. C. Moak, Lewis Boss, Robert D. Williams, Harmon Pumpelly Read, Miss Cynthia R. Dexter, Duncan Campbell.
INDIAN RELICS-Charles Visscher Winne, Chairman ; Douw H. Fonda, W. W. Crannell, S. N. D. North, J. Wal- lace Canady.
DECORATIONS, ARRANGEMENTS AND TRANSPORTATION -W. O. Stillman, Chairman; R. W. Gibson, Mrs. D. K. Bartlett, Mrs. J. G. Farnsworth, Craig McClure.
CATALOGUE, PRINTING AND INSURANCE- Chas. Tracey, Chairman ; Selden E. Marvin, F. G. Mather, John L. Van Valkenburgh, Carlisle N. Greig.
RELICS OF THE CIVIL WAR - Charles Visscher Winne, Chairman ; A. H. Spierre, J. W. Kenny, John S. Hutman, Angus McD. Shoemaker.
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